MickeyMoose15
08-29-2002, 06:00 PM
Touchstone Pictures' Reign of Fire
Released July 12th, 2002
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler, Alexander Siddig, Doug Cockle, Scott Moutter, Benny Nieves, Rory Keenan, Randall Carlton
Director: Rob Bowman
Premise: In present-day London, twelve-year-old Quinn watches as his mother, a construction engineer, inadvertently wakes an enormous fire-breathing beast from its centuries-long slumber. Twenty years later, much of the world has been scarred by the beast and its offspring. As a fire chief, Quinn (Bale) is responsible for warding off the beasts and keeping a small community alive as they eke out a meager existence. Into their midst comes a hotshot American, Van Zan (McConaughey), who says he has a way to kill the beasts and save mankind - a way Quinn's never seen done.
The world of dragons has rarely been explored in feature-length films and hasnt seen a dragon film released since Dragonheart which was greeted with limited appeal. Now Touchstone Pictures (Disney) teams up again with Spyglass Entertainment to try a script that has never been tried before with the subject of dragons. Add on to speculation if the film will work, Disney lets Bowman helm the project who has had very little feature-length film experience and starring very low-profile actors. Will the plan work and make Reign of Fire a sleeper hit?
Note: The CGI effects of Reign of Fire were created by Secret Lab (a.k.a. Dream Quest Images) but unfortunately due to the lack of success of DINOSAUR, Disney shut them down. This is one of the last special effects created by them for Disney.
The story goes that while digging a tunnel under the streets of London, construction workers awaken a beast that has hidden itself for hundreds of years. Like they did during the time of the dinosaurs, the dragons destroy every city around the world and world leaders destroy the rest of the planet by firing nukes to kill the creatures but fail. Now a rogue American comes to the spot where Quinn, the boy who survived the original attack of the dragon, is protecting a group of survivors. They want to head to London to kill the male dragon and therefore wiping out the species before humanity is wiped out. The story flows pretty good though it does slow down in parts. The action sequences are the best that have ever been seen in a film featuring dragons. The story though does feel like it plays too much by the book but it does a fairly good job.
Christian Bale does a very good job as Quinn. His characters is constantly changing emotions through out the film. Quinn has to be surrounded by fear and death almost in every scene and Bale does a great job of bringing that out of him. McConaughey plays the tough-love American down pat even down to the gruff southern accent. He is the action in the film and you have to give him credit just for shaving off his head just for this role. Scorupo is okay but her character is much more confident and not feeling corny while she is up in the air in the helicopter then on the ground.
Overall, Reign of Fire is a good popcorn film but not a spectacular film. I hate to even say that it is not even better the the sequel to Men In Black that is still out in theaters. Men In Black 2 at least made me laugh but Reign of Fire was just way too dark and had moments of laughter but not much. Plus the story plays too much by the book that it feels pushed just a bit. Another complaint is the way McConaugheys character dies. I wont give anything away but it feels sort of idiotic and a waste of a character. Other then that Reign of Fire does a good job based on its action sequences and is considered another good summer popcorn flick.
My Rating: *** 1/2 out of 5
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Released July 12th, 2002
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler, Alexander Siddig, Doug Cockle, Scott Moutter, Benny Nieves, Rory Keenan, Randall Carlton
Director: Rob Bowman
Premise: In present-day London, twelve-year-old Quinn watches as his mother, a construction engineer, inadvertently wakes an enormous fire-breathing beast from its centuries-long slumber. Twenty years later, much of the world has been scarred by the beast and its offspring. As a fire chief, Quinn (Bale) is responsible for warding off the beasts and keeping a small community alive as they eke out a meager existence. Into their midst comes a hotshot American, Van Zan (McConaughey), who says he has a way to kill the beasts and save mankind - a way Quinn's never seen done.
The world of dragons has rarely been explored in feature-length films and hasnt seen a dragon film released since Dragonheart which was greeted with limited appeal. Now Touchstone Pictures (Disney) teams up again with Spyglass Entertainment to try a script that has never been tried before with the subject of dragons. Add on to speculation if the film will work, Disney lets Bowman helm the project who has had very little feature-length film experience and starring very low-profile actors. Will the plan work and make Reign of Fire a sleeper hit?
Note: The CGI effects of Reign of Fire were created by Secret Lab (a.k.a. Dream Quest Images) but unfortunately due to the lack of success of DINOSAUR, Disney shut them down. This is one of the last special effects created by them for Disney.
The story goes that while digging a tunnel under the streets of London, construction workers awaken a beast that has hidden itself for hundreds of years. Like they did during the time of the dinosaurs, the dragons destroy every city around the world and world leaders destroy the rest of the planet by firing nukes to kill the creatures but fail. Now a rogue American comes to the spot where Quinn, the boy who survived the original attack of the dragon, is protecting a group of survivors. They want to head to London to kill the male dragon and therefore wiping out the species before humanity is wiped out. The story flows pretty good though it does slow down in parts. The action sequences are the best that have ever been seen in a film featuring dragons. The story though does feel like it plays too much by the book but it does a fairly good job.
Christian Bale does a very good job as Quinn. His characters is constantly changing emotions through out the film. Quinn has to be surrounded by fear and death almost in every scene and Bale does a great job of bringing that out of him. McConaughey plays the tough-love American down pat even down to the gruff southern accent. He is the action in the film and you have to give him credit just for shaving off his head just for this role. Scorupo is okay but her character is much more confident and not feeling corny while she is up in the air in the helicopter then on the ground.
Overall, Reign of Fire is a good popcorn film but not a spectacular film. I hate to even say that it is not even better the the sequel to Men In Black that is still out in theaters. Men In Black 2 at least made me laugh but Reign of Fire was just way too dark and had moments of laughter but not much. Plus the story plays too much by the book that it feels pushed just a bit. Another complaint is the way McConaugheys character dies. I wont give anything away but it feels sort of idiotic and a waste of a character. Other then that Reign of Fire does a good job based on its action sequences and is considered another good summer popcorn flick.
My Rating: *** 1/2 out of 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Moose Hole - A Segment created by MickeyMoose15
Be sure you visit The Moose Hole (http://www.geocities.com/goooffy15/) to keep the Moose writing!